


Statues

by andtheblueberrymuffins



Series: zutara2016 [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Series, Pre-Relationship, Slow Build, Written for Day 2 (reincarnation) of zutara week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7787260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andtheblueberrymuffins/pseuds/andtheblueberrymuffins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Returning to the Southern Air Temple felt like taking a step back in time, back to when the war with the Fire Nation had been a terrible nightmare still curiously distant from their own lives, despite all the ways it touched them, but those killed there needed put to rest. The trip sparks late night conversation and musings on the nature of life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Statues

**Author's Note:**

> Also for ZKE2016 (Day 2!). A sequel to Dragon Hearts, but, really, it stands alone as well. Every day of the week should be an extra story in this series, with a slow burn leading to the relationship.

Returning to the Southern Air Temple felt like taking a step back in time, back to when the war with the Fire Nation had been a terrible nightmare still curiously distant from their own lives, despite all the ways it touched them. Katara hadn’t expected to ever return, but when Aang had asked their group to take a break from the rebuilding efforts in the Earth Kingdom to accompany him, to help him lay his people to rest properly, none of them had hesitated before agreeing to make the trip.

The air at the temple felt colder than it had down on the flat lands of the Earth Kingdom and it had snowed again recently, giving the old bones a fresh burial in white flakes. It took them days, just the six of them, Aang, Sokka, herself, Toph, Suki, and Zuko, to gather bones, to pay them the respect they’d been denied so long. They worked hard, but it felt right. No one else belonged up there in the empty halls, among the long dead ghosts of the old peaceful world.

Aang kept to himself, shadows haunting his expression as he dealt with all the people he’d grown up with. Katara wished she knew the words to comfort him, but things felt weird between them, and, anyway, what could she say that she hadn’t before? Sokka tried to keep their spirits up, but the atmosphere only sank his jokes. She noticed Aang mostly kept to Toph’s company, and could understand that. Toph probably didn’t push too hard to make him focus on what he was doing.

The entire affair stuck a lump in Katara’s throat and sat heavily in her thoughts, keeping her from sleep. She tossed and turned for the first two nights, before finally forsaking her bedroll and wandering the haunted halls, not paying attention to where her steps took her, until she looked up and found that she stood before the door to the statue room.

And that it was open, still.

She stared forward, into the dark room, full of half-seen statues, and shivered. She should close it and go back, but just as she reached out she saw movement within. Perhaps it was another winged lemur. They’d seen a few more since they returned, none of them as friendly as Momo. She eased forward, calling out, “Hello? Is anyone in here?”

“Just me.” Zuko’s voice startled her, though he spoke softly as he stepped out from behind one of the past Avatar’s – one wearing robes from the Fire Nation. He looked as uneasy as Katara felt, rubbing a hand at the back of his head. “I wasn’t sure if I was allowed in here or not, but the door was open, so. I just wanted to… See them. Is it okay?”

Katara shrugged, wrapping her arms around her chest, chilly even through her parka. “I guess. I mean. Who’s going to get mad?”

Zuko cut a suspicious look at the statues and then held out a hand between them, calling flames into his palm. They crackled up, throwing oddly moving shadows across all the statues and creating a little pocket of warmth, just for the two of them. He asked, “So what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Zuko sighed. “I know what you mean.” They stood there for a moment, caught in their own thoughts, watching the shifting shadows bring a semblance of life to the dead stone. “I was thinking,” Zuko started, his voice hoarse and quiet, “about them. How they come back, over and over again. Do you think we do, too?”

Katara blinked up at him in surprise, “What?”

He grimaced, just a little. “I mean. We might, right? Maybe we just don’t know it because we don’t have the whole Avatar thing. But maybe our spirits have lived before. Maybe they’ll live again.”

“I don’t know.” Katara tilted her face up to the ceiling. The idea of being reincarnation seemed strange to her, even after living with Aang for so long. It didn’t fit well with Water Tribe beliefs, but she couldn’t dismiss the possibility. “Would it matter if we did?”

Zuko sounded startled, “What?”

“Well.” She shrugged, trying to put her thoughts into words. “Like Aang, right. We know he’s reincarnated, but he’s still a different person than Roku, or Kyoshi. The Avatar spirit remains the same, I guess, but the personality changes every time. If we were reincarnated, would we still be us-us, in any way that really mattered? I don’t know.” She rubbed at her forehead, too tired to think such complicated thoughts. “I think maybe we only get to be really this us once. No matter what. Even Aang.”

Zuko didn’t reply for long enough that Katara looked over at him, only to find him staring at her, his eyes wide and a muscle in his jaw jumping. She flushed at the intensity of the look – they hadn’t been around one another much, lately, just too busy. She’d almost managed to forget the way he made her stomach feel. She fidgeted. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, his voice low between them, and shook himself hard. “Nothing, I, uh, I was just thinking about what you said.”

“Oh, yeah?” She tried to push some levity in her voice and failed. “What about it?”

He stared at her for another long moment, and then gestured towards the door. “Just that, you know, if we do only really have one chance, we should… we should make sure we’re taking it. Come on. We should try to get some sleep. There’s still a lot of work to do here.”

They pulled the door shut behind them as they left, sealing the statues into darkness once more.


End file.
